I want to enable Haitians with disabilities to tell their story in a never-before-done, multi-platform documentary series. Today, there are more than 1 million such stories in Haiti. I heard many while working in Haiti. They inspire me passionately.More ...

Martine was 6 months old when I first met her. She
was born with no feet. With proper prostheses, made in Haiti, she
leads a normal life, although in an orphanage. She and many others,
casualties of the numerous causes of handicap (like genetic diseases,
stroke, accidents, violence, mental illness) are my inspiration -
along with their families, care givers and local and international
medical professionals and volunteers, who are their hope and salvation.

Before the end of the year I will be going back again
to visit Martine, now 8, and to begin interviewing various actors and
start writing, photographing and filming the documentary. You can
follow me on this abilityhaiti blog.

The budget for this initial trip is $4000.00 for
travel and accommodations. Generous friends and family have already
donated $1000.00. A number of other trips will follow.

Life is hard in Haiti, even with progress since the
earthquake of 2010. Yet, Haitians are the most wonderful, resilient
and proud people.

Living with a disability in a developing country is
often a brutal struggle. Yet, those I've met are among the bravest,
most loving people I've known.

ProjectMission

To research, study and create a compelling, multi-platform
documentary and ongoing dialogue respectfully illuminating the
subject of disability and persons with disability in Haiti.

To raise awareness and resources for work and school reintegration
programs and a newborns with disabilities rescue project.

To add to the knowledge of the subject in the developing world.

What is the 'story' - it's complex and complicated
and needs in-depth research to bring it into the light. It will be
a comprehensive investigation into the human, historical, social,
ethical, cultural, medical, economic and political aspects of
disability in Haiti, with a special focus on the most vulnerable -
abandoned orphans with disabilities.

AbilityHaiti is the project name.
abilityhaiti.org (TBA) is the web site.

"Cocobai* - Ability and Disability in
Haiti" is the title of the video documentary.
*A derogatory Creole word for the handicapped, meaning 'worthless' or 'disgraced'.

Objectives

Develop a real time web site reporting on the progress of the
documentary, while raising awareness of and funding for the project
and future foundation.

Ensure that the project is Haitian centric with the maximum
participation from, partnerships with and benefits to Haitians,
including those with disabilities, their care givers and families.

Leverage the documentary to increase awareness of persons with
disabilities to fundraise for a future Foundation for the Most
Vulnerable in Haiti. The goal of the foundation will be to fund
treatment, support and education.

Leverage all the outcomes to raise awareness of similar phenomenon
in other developing countries.

Point of view / Introduction - why
am I doing this project and what is it about?

Persons with disabilities (those who live with one or more of a wide
range of physical, sensory, intellectual or mental health impairments)
are among the most vulnerable in humanity. Among the worse off of
these are the children with disabilities. And the most vulnerable of
all are the rejected, abandoned, abused, helpless, disenfranchised
orphans with disabilities.

Disabilities occur in a wide range of forms – physical, intellectual,
emotional, psychological – and have many causes including trauma and
injury, disease, genetics, poverty and deliberate harm. Persons with
disabilities in Haiti exist at the bottom of the human strata piled
high above them. They are at the very bottom of the world’s bottom
billion(1), those subsisting on less than $2.50 U.S./day. Underneath
them are the totally helpless abandoned infants and children with
hydrocephalus, club foot, cerebral palsy, amputations, Down syndrome,
deafness, blindness, malnutrition, congenital heart defects– the list
is very long and certainly includes broken hearts and minds.

And the list grows with age. Adults who continue to survive childhood
disabilities or who have become afflicted, robbed of normalcy later in
life – by strokes, spinal cord injuries, traumatic accidents,
crippling diseases and many other disabling conditions - face
mountainous challenges, from physical and economic deprivation to
overt discrimination and insidiously silent biases and social rejection.

Once you encounter Haitians with disabilities, some 800,000 (2)
before the earthquake, and more than 1.1 million today (3), they
become our neighbours, existing as they do in North
America, right in our own backyard which, for most of us, is only a
few hours from the homes, hospitals, schools, churches, shopping
malls, health clubs and movie theatres that we have the privilege to enjoy.

Once felt and understood, this epiphany is transformed into
compassion without borders. It’s called empathy.
Only then can there be dedicated thought and action to reach down to
pull up the crushed from underneath us, along with the ignorance
skulking in the depths of our own humanity.

It is a hopeless act to document the pathos and pain of persons with
disabilities in Haiti without fathoming context and causes, remedies
and ongoing solutions. In fact, since the consciousness shaking
earthquake of January 2010, the rate of improvement within the
country, in social awareness, government legislation and medical
infrastructure directed towards restoring and improving the lives of
persons with disabilities, is measureable and has momentum.

Globally, the specialized and comprehensive fields of physical
medicine and rehabilitation therapy are as invigorated as any in
medicine and offer healing tools and programs, technologies and
promising research to bring hope and solutions to even the most
geographically, politically and socially isolated and destitute places
in the world, including Haiti. To muster the herculean efforts and
resources required to make it better and bring equality of life to all
children and adults with disabilities, whom this documentary will
speak for, provides a forum for and bears witness to, remains one of
the most important and seminal challenges of our times and a test of
our civilization itself.

To the extent that Haitians can lift up their wounded today, they
will be able to lift up their country tomorrow and if the rest of our
North American community can’t learn how to more effectively support
our most vulnerable neighbours, humanity will bury its own soul along
with its victims beneath the weight of a collapsed morality.

Note: The United Nations estimates that 1 billion individuals
world-wide live with one or more disabling conditions. One household
in every four has a disabled member—which means that an estimated 2
billion people live with disability on a daily basis.(4)

I will be applying for charitable organization status with the CRA
soon. Updates to follow.

Thank you for your consideration and helping to tell the story of
persons with disabilities in Haiti.

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